Help reconstruct Japan
developed by JhackAbout Skeptikai
Skeptikai defends science and exposes pseudoscience. Living in Japan also allows for an interesting opportunity to discuss fascinating stories that go unnoticed elsewhere. Psychological phenomena and intriguing cases from around the globe are also regularly highlighted.
The Psychological Science of StorytellingIt hit me about two years ago, sometime after I started this blog. Somewhere between the…
Islamic Blasphemy and the “Freedom” to Choose your Own ReligionIn the last few weeks, Muslims from Bangladesh have been going crazy trying to fight back…
Inattentional Blindness and the Invisible ViolinistIf a tree falls in the forest and no one's around to hear it, does it make a sound? It…
Hamas-Israel Ceasefire Ends as Gaza Schools Drop Sports for Military TrainingI have been following the news regarding the ceasefire between Israel and Gaza that…
Are Vocal Homophobes Really Just Homosexuals in the Closet?Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who…
Why Haven’t We Found the Missing Link in the Fossil Record? Science Answers!War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. -George Orwell If evolution is…
Bollywood Zombies and The Westernization of Indian Pop CultureGo Goa Gone, the first Western-style zombie flick to be made in Bollywood, was just…
Hungary Solves Homelessness by Finding Places for All… in Jail?The brilliant move of Hungary lawmakers to criminalize the act of being a homeless person…
The 2013 Pigasus AwardsEvery year, the James Randi Educational Foundation gives awards to recognize the special…
Did Jesus ‘Want’ to be Nailed to a Cross?I'm pretty sure the answer to the question in the title is "no," but there are many things…
Category Archives: NewsManga
17 Most Tweeted Events of 2011 (You’ll NEVER guess #1)
2011 was an impressive year for Twitter. (Beyonce is pregnant!) Many people, myself included, started taking Twitter seriously this year, and the numbers of users continue to increase, with no sign of letting up. (She’s pregnant!) Since the year is almost finished, there have been many people who have been saying that the biggest event of the year is… yes, Beyonce being pregnant. At least in terms of the number of people talking about it. (Pregnant!) But the year is not finished, and there has already been something that not only beat the record number of tweets per second, but absolutely demolished it. So let’s look at the most Tweeted events of the year.
Posted in Aggregators/lists/rankings, Culture, Japan, Legal Issues, Media, NewsManga, Translations
Tagged celebrity, crime, movies, sports, twitter
Leave a comment
2011′s Most Popular (and banned) Japanese Baby Names
A ranking of Japanese baby names was recently released, showing which were the most popular this year. Apparently “Hiroto” is the most popular boy’s name and “Yui” is the most popular girl’s name. Name trends are an interesting thing, because they show us just how influenced we are by the popular culture. For example, there is a recent trend among Westerners in taking baby names from the vampire book/movie “Twilight;”and old heroes’ names are making a comeback, like Gatsby and Atticus. So what is the newest name-trend to hit the Island of Japan?
Cute Pink Bunny Teaches Japan about the U.S. Economy
A website I have been frequenting recently, called the “Manga Newspaper” – which reports world news in manga (Japanese comic) form, not news about manga – has been making some nice articles recently. Unfortunately, it does not seem to have any English translations, so non-Japanese speakers are stuck with only the pictures for each story. I’ve decided to start translating articles sporadically, depending on stories that catch my eye, or for their unique Japanese-comic flair or local opinions. In this comic, they talk about the economic problems the lower class is facing in America. I bet you’ve never seen the economic collapse reported like this.